From Riot to Revolution

"We have seen how the Revolution began with popular
risings ever since the first months of 1789. To make a revolution it
is not, however, enough that there should be such risings -- more or
less successful. It is necessary that after the risings there should
be left something new in the institutions, would permit new forms of
life to be elaborated and established." Kropotkin, The Great
French Revolution

Anarchism is often portrayed by historians and others as somewhat
utopian, having no real idea of how to get from capitalism to a free
society. Lenin, for example, asserted that anarchists "while
advocating the destruction of the state machine, have absolutely no
idea of what the proletariat will put in its place." The truth
is, of course, different. Anarchists see the initial framework of an
anarchist society as being created under statism and capitalism when
working class people organise themselves to resist oppression and
exploitation. In summary, the very process of collective class
struggle would create the basis of anarchism.

Therefore, anarchists do not abstractly compare a free society
with the current one. Rather, we see an organic connection between
what is and what could be. An anarchist society would be based on the
working class's own combat organisations, as created in their
struggles within, but against, capitalism and the state.

In this sense, anarchy is not some distant goal but rather an
aspect of current struggles against domination, oppression and
exploitation (i.e. the class struggle). Anarchism draws upon the
autonomous self-activity and spontaneity of working class people in
struggle to inform both its political theory and its vision of a free
society. Means and ends are linked, with direct action being the
means of generating combative working class organisations and
preparing people to directly manage their own personal and collective
interests. The struggle against hierarchy is the school of anarchy.
It teaches us not only how to be anarchists but also gives us a
glimpse of what an anarchist society would be like, what its initial
framework could be and the experience of managing our own activities
which is required for such a society to function successfully.

Anarchy in Action?

The events in Argentina speak for themselves. Popular risings
there have been in abundance. After two-and-half-decades of
IMF-backed free-market reforms, more than 40% of the 38m population
live below the poverty line and 100 children die daily from hunger
and disease. People have had enough. Millions of people have
challenged the state of siege. People are fighting on the streets,
standing up to those who express and exploit them. In Cordoba, a
car-making centre north-west of Buenos Aires, workers protesting at
government plans to reduce wages and apply other austerity measures,
occupied the town hall, and then set fire to it.

Various governments have collapsed but in the lives of the working
class, nothing changed -- except for feelings of victory. In the
streets the confrontations continued. The power they express, the
power of mass direct action, inspires and will not be easily
forgotten.

The question is, what comes next? Will riot become revolution? The
answer to this question depends on what forms of popular
self-organisation are being created. Luckily, such forms of working
class power are being created.

The most exciting thing is the largely spontaneous appearance of
"popular assemblies" after the insurrection last year. These
self-managed assemblies are neighbourhood based on and run by huge
mass meetings of thousands. There are currently 30 assemblies in
Buenos Aires and many others all over the country. According to the
anarchists of the Argentine Libertarian Federation, the assemblies
"meetings are open and anyone who wishes can participate," and
common to all assemblies is the "non-delegation of power,
self-management, [and a] horizontal structure." In the French
Revolution, the people of Paris formed the directly democratic
community assemblies called "sections." Kropotkin pointed to these as
examples of both the popular institutions required to make a
revolution ("the districts of Paris laid the foundations of a new,
free, social organisation") and "the principles of
anarchism." It was by means of these popular assemblies that
"the masses, accustoming themselves to act without receiving
orders from the national representatives, were practising what was to
be described later as Direct Self-Government." A similar process
is at work in Argentina. As one assembly moderator put it, "here,
no one is in charge, we are going to take turns."

Other forms of popular power are developing. The unemployed
workers movement has played a key role in many of the revolts. It has
been building for the last five years and in the last year it has
helped force the government to introduce policies to aid the
unemployed. Its tactics are to paralyse transportation by blocking
off major highways in order to make their demands. They are called
piqueteros ("the picketers"). Any agreements made are
discussed by the participants directly. They do not delegate leaders
to negotiate with the government. They make it come to the blockades
and the people there discuss what they should demand and what they
should accept. They have the same healthy "distrust of all
executive power" which Kropotkin praised the Parisian Sections
for!

There are attempts by workers to organise themselves. Throughout
Argentina strikes have occurred. Committees of struggle and to
co-ordinate the protests have been created. Occupations have started.
In Río Turbio, the mine workers have occupied the mines. In
Neuquén, the workers have occupied ceramics factory of
Zanón, where a workers congress was held in December.

This congress saw almost 400 ceramics workers, teachers,
unemployed workers and students meet to discuss the current events.
The main organisers were the ceramics workers union (SOENC), the
teachers' union of Río Negro (UNTER), a militant unemployed
workers' organisation (MTD) and the teachers of ATEN Centenario.
Members and delegations of several other organisations of the region
also participated. After intense discussion on a multitude of issues,
including the next measures to be taken in their struggle and the
need for co-ordination of current struggles, a declaration was
agreed. This stated that the ceramics workers of Zanón
"struggle for the nationalisation and the reopening of the plant
under worker control" and are "mobilising together with the
unemployed workers of Neuquén . . . and with the teachers and
government employees." They aim to intensify "the
co-ordination and unity between struggles with the aim of setting up
a Regional Co-ordination" as a step towards the unification of
"the struggles on a national level". They called made "an
urgent call for an immediate congregation of the National Assembly of
Employed and Unemployed Workers with a 1 in 20 representation, just
as was voted in the last Picketers' Assembly in La Matanza." This
would seek to unite all those "that are struggling through
democratically elected representatives voted in Assemblies within the
workplace."

On Saturday, February 16, such an assembly was created when
thousands of workers, unemployed and members of the popular
assemblies, met in the Plaza de Mayo square in Buenos Aires.

Clearly, Bakunin's prediction that the "future social
organisation must be made solely from the bottom up, by the free
association or federation of workers, firstly in their unions, then
in the communes, regions, nations and finally in a great federation,
international and universal" is taking shape. The ideas of
anarchism are being applied by those in struggle. This is to be
expected, as those ideas are just generalisations derived from past
working class struggles!

Anarchists in Action

The anarchist group Organizacion Socialista Libertaria (OSL), the
strongest current of organised anarchism in Argentina, is playing an
important role in the struggles. According to one of their messages,
"anarchist militants have been battling the police since the
morning in the Plaza de Mayo" while the OSL have joined in
marches to Plaza de Mayo together with other social organisations.

The OSL are encouraging the process of working class community
self-organisation, with "each militant discussing in his or her
neighbourhood the best way to establish a minimal territorial
organisation with the goal of defeating the state of siege."
While "governmental secret services are continuing to spread fear,
paranoia and battles between one neighbourhood and another," the
OSL have "decided to start an ideological debate with others in
those neighbourhoods where self-managed peoples' organisations are
present. It is in these areas where we will call on the other
organisations to study what has happened and to develop a way of
acting which will allow us to reorganise against the terror of the
State and to organise self-management, or at least, the seeds towards
it."

They are also involved in the unions, attending meetings called by
the CTA trade union federation to decide on its actions. They are
aware that the Trade Union leadership "did not want to go out and
agitate as they were afraid the situation could get out of their
hands." The key will be to encourage any attempts by workers to
organise independently of their leaders.

The importance of anarchists getting involved in the struggle is
clear. As they put it:

"We must throw ourselves fully towards building
people's organisation, because if we the people are not capable of
giving ourselves the society which we want and need, ex-President
Menem is there waiting to be called, as a replacement part so that
nothing changes."

The need for anarchists to argue for their ideas is important. A
process of revolutionary self-education is occurring in Argentina, as
in any revolution (as Kropotkin stressed, "by degrees, the
revolutionary education of the people was being accomplished by the
revolution itself"). For example, one Palermo neighbourhood
assembly participant notes that she was "very surprised because
there are people participating who otherwise never left their homes.
My 70-year-old neighbour had never taken part in anything, but now
she has such an extremist stance that it is truly astonishing."

However, self-education and self-liberation through struggle is a
process, a process that anarchists can aid. As can be seen from many
demonstrations, the protests have a nationalist tinge to them. This
is to be expected, as the current crisis is the result of foreign
domination (aided and abetted by the local ruling class, of course).
It would be a tragedy is this working class revolt gets sidelined
into boosting Argentinean capital within the national market.
Equally, many of the protestors will be demanding that capitalism
works correctly rather than seeking its end. Anarchists must clearly
argue that crisis is inevitable under this system and, equally as
important, that local ruling elites as just as bad as foreign ones
and so nationalism is no solution. Anarchists must do all they can to
argue that only working class self-management can create a decent
society and encourage the struggle towards that end.

This struggle gives those involved a sense of their own power
(both as individuals and as a class). It also gives them experience
of managing their own lives and of organising their own struggles.
This is a good foundation for building a strong anarchist movement in
Argentina. In case we forget, one hundred years ago anarchism played
the leading role in the labour movement there. The current events are
producing organisations with a distinctly libertarian nature. Could
these be the basis of a regenerated working class anarchist movement
like the old FORA anarcho-syndicalist union federation? If so, it
will not happen automatically, it will require the anarchists to take
an active part in working class struggle and organisation. As can be
seen, the OSL is doing precisely that.

Towards revolution?

As anarchists have long argued, the class struggle creates the
framework of a free society. This process is at work in Argentina.
How can the transformation of riot into revolution be helped? While
this task can only be the work of those who take part in it, a few
words of general advice can be drawn from history -- the first steps
have already been taken!

The practical basis of an alternative are already falling into
place. The embryo of popular power, of a free society, is being
created in the community and workplace assemblies. Self-management
must be encouraged within them and any attempts to delegate power
resisted. These organs must be strengthened and federated. As in
every struggle, co-ordination and solidarity must be ensured.

Many neighbourhoods are organising popular general assemblies to
decide how to carry the struggle forward. Their federation is
essential. As Kropotkin argued, the French popular assemblies
"sought for unity of action, not in subjection to a Central
Committee, but in a federative union." This was " made
from below upward, by the federation of the
district organisations; it spring up in a revolutionary way, from
popular initiative." The Argentinean ones have started to do the
same, with some assemblies already choosing delegates who participate
in weekly inter-neighbourhood plenary sessions (some of which draw
some 4,000 people). Only by federating together the popular organs of
self-management can the state be abolished.

Consumer goods have been expropriated by the people. The next
stage is the expropriation of the means of production -- the fields,
factories and workshops -- by workplace assemblies. They must be
placed under workers' self-management and federations of workers'
assemblies created (to co-ordinate struggle and self-managed
production). Any attempt to nationalise them (as the Leninists
propose) must be opposed in favour of socialisation -- replacing
private capitalism with state capitalism is no solution. Only
socialisation under workers' self-management will see capitalism
ended.

An awareness of this need is developing. At the Zanón
congress, a 22 year old worker from the plant stated that the each
centimetre of the plant, each tile that was piled within the long
corridors stood for "the millions that we produced, and everything
that the province gave to Zanón, and now that Zanón
doesn't want to be responsible for it, it's going to be ours."
That perspective has to be generalised and turned from a defensive
strategy to an offensive one.

The building of federations between the community and workplace
assemblies is essential. This is for three reasons. Firstly, to build
working class power to resist and finally overthrow the current
system by combining economic and social self-organisation. The
assemblies and their federations must have the real power to ensure
they become expressions of the will of the working class and to
provide a framework by which collective decisions, direct action,
solidarity and self-defence can be organised. Secondly, to aid the
creation and distribution of goods. A step in this direction would be
the community assemblies setting up consumer co-operatives to
facilitate the distribution of goods and their encouragement and
support of workers expropriating their workplaces. Thirdly, to create
a possible framework in which to socialise the means of life and
place them under true common ownership and control.

In a nutshell: All power to the community and workplace
assemblies!

The call for and subsequent creation of a "National Assembly of
Employed and Unemployed Workers" is a positive one, as long as it
is made up of mandated and recallable delegates and is complemented
by local and regional federations of assemblies. Without constructive
building from the bottom-up, any national assembly will be
artificial, simply a mouthpiece for various would-be politicians and
new bosses. Nor can it be a grouping of existing unions and party
committees as this would simply be a top-down joining of various
bureaucratic committees and not a real expression of popular
self-rule. Any National Assembly must be an organ for working class
struggle, simply co-ordinating and executing the decisions of the
base assemblies. Only this can make the popular slogan "all the
politicians out" a reality.

Any attempt to centralise power must be resisted as it will
disempower the grass-root assemblies and kill the revolt. The
seemingly widespread call for a "Constituent Assembly" is
basically a call for a left wing bourgeois government and for the
popular assemblies to be put under its control. It must be opposed as
it is the death of grassroots self-management. The ruling class may
try to recuperate the current struggle by means of elections to such
a body, side-tracking the revolt into parliamentary channels. The
left, by standing "revolutionary" candidates, will aid this process
of transferring the focus of the struggle away from mass
self-activity and self-organisation onto "leaders" working within
capitalist institutions. This will undermine the autonomy and power
of the grassroots organisations. Equally, the left's calls for a
"workers' government" must also be opposed as this will simply
replace working class power and self-management with party power. To
delegate power into the hands of a few party leaders will not and
cannot solve the current crisis or create socialism, which can be
created only from below by the people themselves.

There is a need to co-ordinate struggle, but this must be based on
bottom-up, federal, organisations. A call for a "People's
Assembly," based on mandated delegates from the community and
workplace assemblies is paramount -- as is the awareness that popular
organisations must not surrender their self-rule and become mere
ciphers, stepping stones for a political party to take power. Any
working class assemblies (and their councils) must be autonomous,
free from the control of any political party or organisation
(including anarchist!). All power to the assemblies must
not become transformed into "all power to the
Party through the assemblies." Decisions must reflect the debate in
the assemblies, not in the small, restricted, leadership of a
political party!

Only self-organisation and direct action from below will ensure
that this mass protest does not simply result in a new gang of
thieves being placed in power. Only when the working class has
organised itself from below upwards will it be in a position to
dispense once and for all with bosses and politicians. The struggle
against capitalism is building the framework of the free society that
will replace it. The job of anarchists is to encourage these
processes and show how they can form an alternative to capitalism.

As in every revolution, the "principles of anarchism" are being
born from the class struggle, the deeds of working class people
fighting for a better life. Argentina is no exception and as can be
seen, the embryos of popular self-management as being created. We
have a lot to learn from these experiences. The current protests not
only reinforces the validity of anarchist ideas, it also allows us to
improve these ideas just as anarchists learned from past working
class revolts.

The role of the unemployed workers movement is important,
suggesting that anarchists should seriously look at creating similar
groups here. Equally, the importance of the community assemblies is
obvious. Anarchists have long argued for this and we should apply
this principle in "community unionism." These would be similar to the
anti-poll tax unions and such groups as Haringey Solidarity Group and
the Govanhill Pool protests in Glasgow. Equally, the need for a
libertarian presence in the workplace is essential. This may involve
pronged strategy of rank and file groups within existing unions plus
dual unions to link up activists across industries. Lastly, the
anarchist movement needs to discuss strategy and tactics in an open
forum as in the conferences at Bradford, Glasgow and London.

The events in Argentina also shows the direction the
anti-globalisation movement must take -- it must apply its principles
of direct action, solidarity, self-managed self-organisation within
everyday life and struggles. While mass demonstrations like those of
Genoa are essential, they cannot replace the need to build strong
roots in our communities and workplaces. Without this grassroots
activity, the anti-globalisation movement will wither, just as a
flower cut off from its roots. Demonstrations by themselves will not
end capitalism or its imposed, top-down, globalisation. Only when the
bulk of the population take direct action, organise themselves and
fight for their freedom will real change occur. As Argentina shows.

The power of the working class in revolt is clear -- it has
managed to bring down numerous politicians. The question is, will it
be able to bring down all governments and all bosses? That remains to
be seen. The possible framework of a free society can be seen, will
the Argentinean anarchists be able to encourage these first steps and
help them become organs of working class power? Hopefully. As the OSL
say:

"we will be there with our conviction that a
different way of living is possible and that is what we are fighting
for!"